KOTA KINABALU: PKR Sabah vice chief 1 Terrence Siambun applauded the recent outburst by UPKO vice president Datuk Marcus Mojigoh towards him over the treatment of flood victims in Sabah, but said the Putatan member of parliament had obviously erred on several issues.
“Firstly, I have never asked Mojigoh to stop speaking up for his constituents, district or for any Sabahans, because I believe that being a member of the State Assembly and Parliament from Sabah, we must speak up for all Sabahans wherever they are and from whatever district they come from.
“I am sure Mojigoh will agree with this because he himself commented (as reported in the news) on the performance of Datuk Seri Haji Lajim Ukin as the elected representative of Beaufort/Kimanis,” the Moyog assemblyman explained.
Siambun also contended as a matter of fact and despite the difficulty for Mojigoh to comprehend, that he is and was, at all times, reinforcing his (Mojigoh’s) contention that the BN-led Federal Government is discriminating Sabah through preferential treatment between flood victims in the State and in Peninsular Malaysia, despite we being a major oil contributor to the Malaysian government.
“And I find it somewhat contradictory that Mojigoh has to ‘keep shouting’ for the Sabahans, when he, as supporter and member of the ruling government, could easily have informed of any important issues to the BN-led Federal Government through a relationship which he described as, ‘the beauty of being within the BN,” he reiterated.
This is all the more so since UPKO has three of its top leaders (obviously staunch supporters of the BN government) in Parliament, with one appointed as a full Federal Cabinet minister, he added.
“So what have these three UPKO’s top leaders been doing then? Are they so ineffective in the BN-led Federal Government that Mojigoh had to openly state his indignation over the discrimination and nonchalant attitude shown by the BN-led Federal Government on serious matters affecting Sabahans?” Siambun asked.
“Hence, the crux of the matter is, if the BN-led Federal Government had treated Sabah with respect, honour and equality (by giving the same treatment to our Sabahan flood victims as those in the Peninsular), surely there would be no need for UPKO to beg, appeal or even threaten the government openly in the media,” he charged.
Siambun also believed that Mojigoh may have grown tired of this nonchalant attitude of the BN-led Federal Government towards UPKO that he now has to act like an opposition representative. Hence, the invitation from him to Mojigoh to join Pakatan Rakyat.
He also said that Mojigoh had also erred albeit strangely, despite his years of experience as a member of the government, when he stated that while all the allocations requested for Putatan had been delivered, none is being given to DUN Moyog.
“Since he is seldom around Sabah, and I must reluctantly give him the benefit of the doubt, he must have not known the issue relating to the release of state assemblyman’s allocation for my constituency.
“In this case, he has once again raised an important issue relating to the discrimination shown by the BN-led government in the matter of my rightful state assemblyman’s allocation coming from taxes paid by the electorates in my constituency to the government and deposited under the Consolidated Fund, but sadly was not disbursed to me even though I am the elected representative of the constituency. It is instead managed by the Penampang BN chairman,” he charged.
If there is any truth at all that the funds for my constituency are managed by BN through its Penampang chairman, then, unless Mojigoh requests his colleagues in Penampang BN to release the state assemblyman’s allocation to me, he should not make any comparison with me over this matter or even brag about it since clearly, I am at a disadvantage compared to him, he added.
Siambun also said that Mojigoh had erred when he spoke of the development brought by him to Putatan.
“I believe I did not touch on this matter, so perhaps, it would be wise for Mojigoh to explain or discuss it properly with the Putatan folks,” he concluded.